In a message dated 98-08-26 09:25:15 EDT, Ken writes:

<< For those of you who have never visited the Bus Depot, you have no idea how
 busy Ron is. >>

I have to agree. A couple of weeks after I got my Carat, a buddy of mine ( 77
Westie owner) and I made a "Parts Pilgrimage" to the Bus Depot (about an hour
and fifteen minute ride from me).

Our purpose was to build up a personal inventory of essential and optional
parts.

When we arrived we were entertained by an impressive act of "juggling" by Ron
and his colleague as they answered our questions, answered the phones, boxed
orders, located strange used parts for both the Carat and the Westie,
generated invoices, etc.

The Bus Depot guys were friendly, thorough and BUSY, but they were very
helpful and we departed with all the parts we needed, (except for an O2
sensor, which arrived at my door three days later) plus some parts we got just
because we were there.

One very important thing we also left with was some money in our pockets.

As impressive as Ron's "juggling performance" is, the most impressive aspects
of his business are the quality of his parts, the price of his parts and his
knowledge of the vehicles for which he supplies them. I don't think you'll
find many operations with that combination the essentials of parts supply.

I think the reason that Ron is so busy and "hard to get" is simple demand. The
reason for the demand is illustrated above. I'm willing to wait for these
prices and knowledge. If you aren't, pay more and get less (or the wrong
thing). I think that the Bus Depot will outgrow this difficult time, but I'm
going to stick with it throughout.

Paul
89 Carat 146K